Celebrity Opinions Are the Only Ones That Matter

The other day I saw JK Rowling trending and of course it had nothing to do with a new book or theme park attraction or TV series or anything.  Nope, she was popping off about transgender people...again.  Despite that probably nobody asked.  Despite that she has no expertise on the subject.  Despite that she has no stake at all in the issue.

This has really become a problem in the social media age because unfortunately if you're a celebrity, people will actually hear all your dumb ass shower thoughts and treat them seriously.  The biggest problem is that when you get celebrities spouting conspiracy theories, it gives those crackpot theories credibility with people.  Like anti-vaccination wasn't a huge thing until celebrities like Jenny McCarthy began spouting off in support of it.  Or recently I saw a hashtag about now-deceased fiddler Charlie Daniels supporting Benghazi conspiracy theories.  Or celebrities supporting flat Earth nonsense.  Or of course Donald Trump and "birtherism."

It doesn't seem to matter then what actual experts on any of those subjects say (or for instance the many long, costly investigations of Benghazi), there are always going to be a substantial number of people who believe the theories supported by the celebrities, who have a lot more reach than most scientists or other experts.  So these conspiracy theories manage to hang around in the mainstream instead of just being relegated to crazy homeless people on street corners like they should be.

So the unfortunate thing is that when someone like JK Rowling goes around spouting crap about a subject she knows nothing about, people will treat it seriously when in reality her opinion on transgender people has less value than mine.  I mean, I write books that are considered "transgender" so I actually have more knowledge and a stake in the subject, but who gives a shit about my opinion?

Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

Celebrities like Rowling should be more careful in what they say then.  I can go on Twitter or Facebook and say any stupid ass thing I like, because who's going to know or care?  Maybe 3 people.  Whereas if a celebrity spews some dumb, uniformed opinion, it can influence millions of people.  So they really need to be more responsible, because they aren't normal people; they can't use social media the way the rest of us would.

Is it fair?  No, but that's one of the prices you pay for success.

Yesterday a letter was published by Harper's Magazine where Rowling was among the celebrities whining about "cancel culture."  For celebrities I guess it's a lot easy to blame us little people for being mean to them than for them to actually think before they post.

But the thing is that in the end you're responsible for your own words, whether spoken or typed.  That's true for all of us, but when you have the power of celebrities, it's especially true.  As a great man and celebrity once wrote, "With great power comes great responsibility."